Catnapping
by GoddessApostle
Summary: All Marinette wanted was some rest. She didn't expect anyone to find her, though, much less her crush.


It had been a long night for Ladybug, and Marinette was tired. Surely no one would mind if she took a little nap in a tree behind the school during lunch, would they? Marinette banished the thought of punishment as she scaled the trunk to one of its lowest, but strongest, branches. She settled in, trusting that her reflexes would kick in should she start to fall, and began a quick descent into sleep.

It had barely been ten minutes when someone called her name.

She jumped awake, sliding halfway off the branch. She heard a gasp below her as she started to fall, but her reflexes were as good as she knew they'd be. She hooked her legs together as her position shifted, her hands grabbing the rough bark above her. She wound up looking a bit like a sloth, hanging upside down from a tree. Annoyed, she looked for the source of the voice that woke her. She stopped mid-yawn when she saw that Adrien was the only one around.

"Uh..." Her face turned red, her voice weak. "Hi, Adrien."

"Hello, Marinette." he answered, concern crinkling his forehead. "Are you ok?"

Marinette nodded before realizing she was still hanging upside down. Getting a better grip on her branch, she lowered her legs until she was just a foot off the ground and let go. She landed with her back to him, then stretched with a yawn, still tired.

She stiffened when she heard him step closer.

"What were you doing up there?" he asked, gazing at the branch she'd been napping on.

"Oh, um, just- just sleeping," she told him as she glanced away. "It's really private out here, no one really comes this way. Oh! I don't mean to say that you're no one, Adrien! It's just... Um-" She cut herself off, hiding her face behind her palm as she slapped her forehead. "I didn't think anyone would come out this way."

"Sorry to interrupt. Alya was looking for you," he said with an apologetic smile. Marinette fumbled for an answer before yawning again, and Adrien copied the action. "Sorry," he said on the finishing end of it.

"Oh, no, it's okay. It my fault, really, they're contagious. I didn't get much sleep last night. I was... Um... Studying! I thought there was a test today and- well, there wasn't." She knew her excuse flimsy at best. But he didn't question it, he just smiled at her with those oh-so-green eyes of his.

"It's fine," he said. "I wasn't able to sleep until early this morning. I got carried away with a few games." He looked up at the tree. "Is it that comfortable, up there?"

"Uh- yes, it is. I do it all time time."

"It's dangerous. You could fall."

"Yeah well, I usually catch myself. I haven't fallen yet, and I refuse to!" She smirked at him, feeling brave. He looked at her with a puzzling gaze, thinking hard about something. She blinked and, blushing, turned away. "Alya wanted me, right? I better go find her!" She ran off, face burning.

* * *

All Alya wanted was to go over a project they were presenting later that day. It took only took them a few minutes to do what they needed, and Marinette returned to the tree when they were done, hoping to spend the remainder of her break asleep.

She was surprised to find that Adrien was still there, stretched out on a limb, looking for all the world like a cat napping in the sun. He was lying on his stomach, one arm under his head as a pillow. The other was hanging down, half his body hanging with it. It was only his leg, hanging from the other side, that kept him anchored.

Marinette marveled at how beautiful the scene was.

And how courteous Adrien was. Instead of taking the easiest branch to get to - Marinette's favorite - he'd elected to climb to a different one so she could have hers, should she return.

As quietly as she could, Marinette climbed the tree once again. She sat on her branch, back leaning against the trunk, then slid her eyes to her left. Adrien's shoulder was incredibly close to her face. She blushed as she realized that if she just let her arm dangle like his, she could touch his hand.

She made sure both her hands were securely in her lap before she closed her eyes.

But things happen in sleep that you can't control. As Marinette's body relaxed, and her shoulders dropped, her arm did, too. It came loose from the grip she had on it and brushed Adrien's, falling to place her hand perfectly behind his. The end result was the illusion of two hands being held in a sweet embrace.

Alya took about twenty pictures when she saw it.


End file.
